In spite of that unwonted note of pessimism from Mr. Watling, I went home
in a day or two flushed with my new honours, and it was impossible not to
be conscious of the fact that my aura of prestige was increased
--tremendously increased--by the recognition I had received. A certain
subtle deference in the attitude of the small minority who owed
allegiance to the personage by whom I had been summoned was more
satisfying than if I had been acclaimed at the station by thousands of my
fellow-citizens who knew nothing of my journey and of its significance,
even though it might have a concern for them. To men like Berringer,
Grierson and Tallant and our lesser great lights the banker was a
semi-mythical figure, and many times on the day of my return I was
stopped on the street to satisfy the curiosity of my friends as to my
impressions. Had he, for instance, let fall any opinions,
prognostications on the political and financial situation? Dickinson and
Scherer were the only other men in the city who had the honour of a
personal acquaintance with him, and Scherer was away, abroad, gathering
furniture and pictures for the house in New York Nancy had predicted, and
which he had already begun to build! With Dickinson I lunched in private,
in order to give him a detailed account of the conference. By five
o'clock I was ringing the door-bell of Nancy's new mansion on Grant
Avenue. It was several blocks below my own.
"Well, how does it feel to be sent for by the great sultan?" she asked,
as I stood before her fire. "Of course, I have always known that
ultimately he couldn't get along without you."
"Even if he has been a little late in realizing it," I retorted.
"Sit down and tell me all about him," she commanded.
"I met him once, when Ham had the yacht at Bar Harbor."
"And how did he strike you?"
"As somewhat wrapped up in himself," said Nancy.
We laughed together.
"Oh, I fell a victim," she went on. "I might have sailed off with him, if
he had asked me."
"I'm surprised he didn't ask you."
"I suspect that it was not quite convenient," she said. "Women are
secondary considerations to sultans, we're all very well when they
haven't anything more serious to occupy them. Of course that's why they
fascinate us. What did he want with you, Hugh?"
"He was evidently afraid that the government would win the coal roads
suit unless I was retained."
"More laurels!" she sighed. "I suppose I ought to be proud to know you."
"That's exactly what I've been trying to impress on you all these years,"
I declared. "I've laid the laurels at your feet, in vain."
She sat with her head back on the cushions, surveying me.
"Your dress is very becoming," I said irrelevantly.
"I hoped it would meet your approval," she mocked.
"I've been trying to identify the shade. It's elusive--like you."
"Don't be banal.... What is the colour?"
"Poinsetta!"
"Pretty nearly," she agreed, critically.